The Lazarus Vault Part 4

She'd arrived early, fighting her way through the Autumn rain. Doug was coming down that evening, and she wanted to be back in good time for him. She'd bought two fillet steaks from the butcher in Leadenhall Market and spent half an hour on the Internet finding out how to cook them. They'd cost thirty pounds, which in Oxford had been a week's food budget.

The building was almost empty, but when she went into Blanchard's office to drop off her reports his jacket was already draped over the back of his chair. She could smell his scent in the air, mingled with the ever-present cigar smoke. A folder lay on his desk, red leather with gold writing stamped in the cover. Leather bands tied it shut, and the knots had been covered in something that looked like dried blood. Sealing wax?

Ellie read the gold lettering upside down. LAZARUS.

'What are you doing?'

Blanchard's voice, behind her and sharp. Ellie spun around and tried not to look guilty. His hard jaw softened into a wolfish smile. 'You're dripping all over my carpet.'

He advanced into the room until he was almost touching her. He reached out and pushed a damp lock of hair back behind her ear.

'You look like a drowned mouse.'

'I didn't have an umbrella.' The rain hadn't looked so bad from the thirty-eighth floor, but it had wormed its way through her clothes almost as soon as she stepped out the door. 'I couldn't find a bus.'

'Have you heard of such a thing as a taxi?' Blanchard sounded appalled. Ellie shrank: it had never occurred to her.

Darting around, her eyes fixed on a blemish on Blanchard's bone-white shirt cuff. She tried not to stare, but Blanchard's eagle gaze missed nothing.

'What?'

'Nothing.' Embarra.s.sed. 'There's a spot of blood on your cuff.' No response. 'I wondered if you knew.'

'A shaving cut.' He didn't look. 'Listen, Ellie. Appearances matter in our profession. The apparel proclaims the man. I know it will take you time to learn the intricacies of this work. I expect it. But please do not let down this company by your presentation.' A cold smile. 'I think we pay you enough that you can afford an umbrella. Maybe even a taxi.'

Despite the damp clothes clinging to her skin, Ellie felt p.r.i.c.kles of heat all over her body. 'I didn't think I'd be meeting clients today.'

'You never know what the day will bring.' Blanchard ran his eyes down her, stripping off her sodden clothes with his gaze until she felt entirely naked. 'There is a shop just off King William Street, a gentlemen's outfitters but they also cater for women. Take your credit card and buy something dry to change into, everything you need. I will see your statement. If you spend less than a thousand pounds, I shall be very disappointed with you.'

Ellie nodded mutely.

'And be back within the hour. We have a meeting to attend. The files are on your desk.'

Ellie read the files standing in front of a mirror, while a stooped old man with a tape measure around his neck hemmed and pinned until he was satisfied. The shop next door sold leather goods: on a reckless impulse, she went in and bought a new pair of shoes and a new handbag. Let Blanchard complain about that if he wanted.

The Rosenberg Automation Company occupied a dilapidated factory somewhere east of Woolwich, near the river. Ellie arrived looking like a thousand pounds. Part of her felt sick when she thought how much she'd spent on this single outfit; part of her was giddy with the extravagance. And the clothes were immaculate. Every time the skirt's silk lining brushed against her legs, or the jacket's smooth seam hugged her shoulder, confidence surged through her.

From skimming the file, she knew that the company had been founded in the 1930s by a Russian emigre Jew. It manufactured control systems for industrial machinery. Ellie didn't know what that meant, but she knew it didn't matter. They make baked beans, they make s.p.a.ce satellites, it's only details, Blanchard had told her. They have capital, they have debts, they have shareholders and liabilities. All that matters is they have a price.

In this case the shareholder was an old man, son of the founder and no less Russian in his obstinacy. After three hours locked in a meeting room, drinking black tea out of Styrofoam cups, they were no closer to finding his price than when they'd walked in. When it came to negotiations Blanchard seemed driven by an animal spirit, a hunger for the deal that cajoled and encouraged, threatened and harried the opposition towards conceding. At times he would jump out of his chair and prowl around the room; other times he leaned forward on the table and listened with half-closed eyes as the old man banged his fist and repeated himself for the umpteenth time. But the old man soaked up the pressure and never flinched, while his son a sullen, dark-eyed forty-something sat by his side and glared.

'The patrimony is the pillar of the family,' Rosenberg senior said yet again. 'It is a father's duty to protect it. We have rationalised our workforce, invested in new equipment, consolidated our supply chain, everything the consultants tell us. We are an old company, but everything is state of the art. This is how we have always been and this is what my son will inherit.'

Blanchard was in a foul temper when they left. 'This patrimony is garbage,' he raged. 'Did you see his son? He would sell the company, take the money, in five seconds if he had the chance. But he is a coward, he does not dare tell this to his father.'

Ellie flipped through the file. 'The old man must be almost eighty. How much longer can he hold on?'

'To life? Too long.'

'I didn't mean ...'

'If this deal does not happen in the next two weeks, the logic will no longer exist and the client will pull out. We will lose the fee, the dozens of hours we have already invested in it. And all because of a frightened child and a stubborn old man.'

'The old man's frightened too.' She surprised herself by saying it out loud, though she was sure it was true. She'd grown up surrounded by fear. Fear of losing your job, your house, your dignity. She knew the signs, the false pride and chippy bravado, the darkness in their eyes.

'Frightened of what?' A stillness overtook Blanchard. 'His son?'

'A vulnerability.' Ellie stared at the back of the driver's seat and thought furiously. 'Not his son he knows he can control him. Something in the business. Every time we got close to discussing it he closed us down.'

'Find it.' Suddenly Blanchard was alive again, feeding off the hope she offered. 'Pull this company apart, look for anything we missed. Find it, and give it to me by Wednesday.'

Back at the office, Ellie switched off her mobile phone and hid from her e-mails. She pulled up everything she could find on the company: their accounts, their customers, their products. She dug out the notes from her course and looked for all the telltale signs she'd learned: underperforming divisions, foreign subsidiaries bleeding cash, investments gone wrong. There was nothing. Rosenberg managed his company as conservatively as his father.

We have rationalised our workforce, invested in new equipment, consolidated our supply chain, everything the consultants tell us. There'd been bitterness in his voice, the shame of a proud man being told how to run his business. But also something else.

The world outside grew dark. The lights in the great office towers she could see through her window began to blink off. Numbers swam in front of Ellie's eyes.

And then she found it. One line in the accounts, nothing more. Not even definite just a suggestion, the end of a thread that she might unravel.

A discreet knock broke her concentration. She looked up, annoyed, but it was only the night porter.

'I tried to ring, but your phone was off,' he apologised. 'There's a man downstairs to see you. Says you were supposed to meet him an hour ago.'

Doug. Ellie swore under her breath. She'd completely forgotten. 'Tell him I'll be right down.'

She gathered up the files and put them in her bag. She'd have to do more work after dinner, though she knew Doug would be cross. She pa.s.sed Blanchard's office and saw his light was still on, though when she tried the door it was locked.

Doug was waiting in the lobby. Ellie took one look at his face and knew he was furious.

'I'm so sorry.' She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the lips to show she meant it. 'Big project.'

'No problem.' He was trying to be gracious, though he couldn't hide the scowl on his face. He looked her up and down, trying to work something out. 'You look nice.'

'I bought a new outfit.' It was already beginning to feel like hers, though she wouldn't tell him how much it had cost. 'Let's go.'

She put her arm in his and squeezed against him. They didn't speak much. Doug was still angry; Ellie's mind was still deep in the books of the Rosenberg Automation Company.

They'd just reached the main road when she realised she'd left the steaks in the fridge on the fifth floor.

'I've got to go back. I've left our supper at the office.'

'We'll get something on the way.'

'No.' A thousand pounds on a suit and I'm worried about thirty quid's worth of beef. 'It's supposed to be special. Just wait here.'

She hurried back, her heels clicking on the pavement. An unmarked white van had pulled up outside the bank; she just glimpsed two men in black jeans and black coats manhandling a large box, as big as a coffin, through the doors. She hesitated. For a moment she imagined it was a bank robbery in progress. But people didn't rob investment banks, and when she reached the lobby the night porter was safe behind his desk.

'What was that that just arrived?' she asked while she waited for the lift.

The porter studied his crossword and didn't meet her eye. 'Delivery for Mr Blanchard.'

But when she looked at the old-fashioned dial above the lift to see where it had gone, the needle was pointing at the sixth floor.

VIII.

Wales, 1129 My home is a castle. Not like the ones in Pembroke or Caernarvon, with their stone walls and high donjons. Our castle is mostly mud: an earth rampart topped with a palisade, ringing the compound of mud-and-wood buildings inside. There is a thatched barn and a thatched hall, and it is hard to tell them apart. In winter the gra.s.sy banks trap the rain and turn our courtyard into a swamp. My father calls it our moat; my mother tells us the story of a knight who grew up in a lake.

That spring, my father hires a Flemish engineer to build a watchtower. He sharpens the stakes in the palisade, and fills the gaps where the livestock have knocked them down in the winter. There have been disturbances again: a man was killed in Brandennog. n.o.body believes that will be the end of it. The Welsh love their honour and they love fighting. Ralph says we'll be safe in our castle, but my father looks grim. He says that when you keep behind castle walls, your enemies know where to find you.

I think: if our sheep can break through the palisades, what would the Welsh do?

It often rains in Wales, but in my memory it is always the last day of spring. My father and Ralph were away last night and haven't returned; Brother Oswald has been called away to his monastery, and I have taken my horse into the forest. I think I might visit the fields by the chapel, where the harrowers are working, but I am in no hurry. The trees are in flower and the shrubs in leaf; a gentle sun dapples the lush meadows. I get down from my horse and walk barefoot through the gra.s.s, which is green and velvet against my skin. I slip off my horse's bridle and let him graze freely.

I have brought a javelin with me, and I amuse myself throwing it at knots in the trees. My brother teases me that the javelin is a Welsh weapon, ign.o.ble. Ralph says the only way to fight with a spear is couched under your arm. But Ullwch, my father's herdsman, has been teaching me, and I can knock a gamec.o.c.k off its branch with one throw.

I don't aim at birds that morning. Their songs light up the forest; my heart leaps to hear them. I don't want to spoil it with bloodshed. Each throw takes me further from home, but I don't mind. I can find my way back, and my horse is so docile he won't stray far.

A noise echoes through the trees a strange staccato clatter like drums. I follow the sound, clutching my javelin and crouching low. As I draw closer, I can hear the high ring of metal, like bells or cymbals. I know from my mother's stories that the faerie folk love music, and I wonder if this might be them.

I peer over a rotting tree stump and see them: five knights, helmed and armed, riding through the forest. They aren't faeries, though the way the sun flashes on their armour makes them look like angels. Nor is there music. They're riding in a trackless place: the oak and hornbeam branches slap their armour, their lances knock against their shields, the steel rings of their hauberks jangle and chime together. They're a splendid sight. I ache with the longing to be a knight.

I almost hail them, but something makes me hold back. Why are they riding so far from the road? Why are they armed as if for war? I press myself into the moist earth. With my javelin and my buckskin cloak I look like a small Welshman, and there are many stories of knights ambushed on the road. I don't want them to mistake me for an enemy.

The knights pa.s.s by. Behind them, a company of men creep through the trees. In their brown leather hauberks and grey-green tunics, they're almost invisible. They don't speak or laugh, as men on the road usually do. Some carry bows, and some spears or axes but the blades are uncovered, and the bows strung. They mean to use these weapons soon. As I watch their progress I realise they're following the stream.

I know where that stream goes. It flows to my father's castle.

I crawl, then I run, then I ride. Well before I reach the house, I know it's too late. I can see the smoke rising from the thatched roofs my father said they were no good for a castle. The watchtower hasn't saved us. When I get to the brow of the hill and look out, to the open plain and the sea shimmering behind the smoke, the battle's already lost. The knights have surprised us utterly. The gates stand open, and the defenders I can see have had no time to arm. Some of them are fighting with rakes and wood-axes; several already lie dead. One of them has a sickle in his hand and is using it to fend off a mounted knight. With a lurch, I realise it's my father.

My old mare is no warhorse. I jump off and run down the hill, sliding and tripping on the uneven ground. No one sees me coming or, if they do, they think I'm one of them. I cross the bridge over the stream and enter the gate unmolested. The smoke stings my eyes. The battle must nearly be over some of the foot-soldiers have already turned to plunder but in the far corner, under the pilings of the watchtower, there's still resistance. Two of the mounted knights are circling a figure who's trying to hold them off with a billhook.

It's Ralph.

I run towards them. Ralph doesn't see me. He lunges at one of the knights who blocks the blow with his shield and chops the billhook out of Ralph's hand. The other darts forward. He stabs with his spear, and Ralph collapses in the mud.

I scream; the knight turns, and the moment I see his face I let fly my javelin.

But I'm only ten years old, and though I'm accurate I'm not strong yet. The javelin sticks in his shield like an arrow. He laughs, pulls it free and drops it in the mud. He walks his horse towards me, not knowing whether to spear me on his lance or just trample me into the ground. I grab a smouldering brand that was once a cruck beam and swipe it in front of me.

The other knight rides up and touches his captain's arm.

'Look at his head.' He's seen my tonsure. He wheels his horse to face his captain. 'It's a sin to kill a priest.'

'And folly to leave a son alive.' The captain is a huge man, taller than the roof of the hall or so it seems to my ten-year-old imagination. He wears a chain ventail laced on to his helmet so I can't see his face; his helmet puts his eyes into shadow. I stare at him unblinking. I've heard that if you see the man who kills you, you haunt him ever afterwards as a ghost.

It's only afterwards that I realise he was speaking in French. At the time, I don't notice. The captain is deciding whether to kill me. His horse paws the ground. Warhorses are not bred to stand still in battle.

Somewhere in the distance a horn blows. I don't know who has sounded it, but it speaks to the captain. He pulls his own horn from his saddle and repeats the call. Around me, I sense the tide of the battle ebbing.

The captain p.r.i.c.ks his spurs without warning. The horse springs forward and thunders towards me I know I should jump out of the way, but I can't move. Perhaps the greater part of me wants to die. The ground trembles under my feet, as if the earth is opening itself to receive me. I close my eyes and wait for death.

And then the ground is still and the horse is behind me. I haven't moved. I look down, and realise I'm still holding the brand. At the last moment, the horse must have swerved away from the fire. Whether the knight chose to spare me, or whether he missed his opportunity, I'll never have the chance to ask. If I ever see him again I'll kill him on sight.

The other knight rides by. He doesn't want to kill me, but as he pa.s.ses he swings the b.u.t.t of his spear into my ribs, knocking me back onto the ground. By the time I get to my feet, the battle's over.

I stagger to the gate and see the departing raiders streaming back across the bridge with our livestock, my father's horses, whatever bits and pieces of our household they can carry. One has a duck under his arm; another is carrying a stack of our silver plates as if he's just cleared them from the table. A goblet wobbles on top of the pile.

My mother runs after them, screaming a cry that tears open my soul. She catches up with the knights at the head of the bridge. One of them turns; he makes a movement I can't see, and my mother collapses to the ground. She looks as if she's fainted, but she'll never get up. My father is dead, run through his thighs with a lance and then beheaded. My brother Ralph died beside him. Wandering through the ashes, I see the crows and rooks coming to pick out his eyes. I run towards them in a fury, but I'm so feeble that day they barely move. They flutter onto a broken plough and watch, waiting for their chance. There are no buildings where I can hide Ralph's body, so I dig his grave right there.

The Welsh love their feuds, as ready to avenge a hundred-year-old insult as one suffered this morning. They're vindictive, bloodthirsty and violent. Perhaps, living among them, I've learned something of their ferocity, for now I have sworn revenge.

I am the oldest son now. Knighthood is my right, and my duty.

IX.

East London A fog hung over London that morning. The streetlamps were still lit, casting a false dawn over the cobbled alleys and brick warehouses. If not for the lights of the burglar alarms winking from their gables, it might have been a hundred years ago.

Ellie stood waist deep in boxes and wished she'd worn gloves. The rain the day before had turned the cardboard to pulp, which came away in long strips when she touched it. The skip stank of damp and urine; the ground squelched underfoot. On the wall above, a scarred sign advertised the Rosenberg Automation Company.

Delicately, as if she were handling medieval parchments and not the refuse in a back alley behind a factory, she peeled the boxes apart to find the names written on them. She wrote them down on a pad of paper. Some had telephone numbers or web addresses, and she wrote those down too with shivering, sticky fingers.

When she was done, she clambered out of the skip and went round to the cafe across the street from the factory entrance. A Chinese woman brought her greasy eggs and coffee while she watched the morning shift arrive. Some of the workers came in to get breakfast or a cup of tea, and she listened carefully to their conversation. If any of them had seen her the day before, they didn't connect her with the young woman who'd arrived in the Bentley and the thousand-pound suit. That morning, Ellie had sc.r.a.ped her hair back into the tightest ponytail she could manage, and put on an old tracksuit she hadn't touched since she left Newport. She wore no make-up. She wondered if this was how she'd have looked if she'd never left home, never gone to Oxford, never written an essay for the Spenser Prize and never come to the attention of Vivien Blanchard. All I need is the baby, she thought.

She sat there most of the morning, pretending to read the Sun and observing the delivery vans come and go. At eleven o'clock she drained her last cup of coffee and found a bus to take her west. She showered at her flat and tried to scrub the dirt from under her fingernails. She looked longingly at the new clothes from the day before: would it be wrong to wear them two days in a row? She was sure Blanchard would notice.

'I wondered if you would join us this morning,' he said, when she finally reached the office. It was half-past twelve and he looked angry. Ellie didn't care.

'I've got it,' she announced. 'Rosenberg. We have consolidated our supply chain, he said, remember? They went too far. There's a component in their products, a logic board, and they only have one supplier. They're completely dependent on them.'

Blanchard leaned back in his chair and drew on his cigar. Ellie already recognised the trick: to lure you on with indifference, ready to snap back at a moment's notice. 'How do you know this?'

'The accounts. Last year they spent a quarter less on components than the year before, but their sales stayed constant. I went down to the factory and looked around. There are only two companies in the world that make these logic boards, and only one of them has boxes going into that factory.'

Blanchard stared at the painting on the wall, at the helpless damsel tied to the tree.

'They can insure against supply-chain disruption.'

'Their premiums haven't changed.' Ellie could hardly control her excitement. 'The old man hasn't told them. He's driving without insurance and praying he doesn't get in an accident. I made a few phone calls.' Pretending to be a buyer from a rival firm, trembling with the deceit and the fear of getting caught. 'It would take him six months to arrange a new supplier, and the business doesn't have the cash to survive that long.'

She stopped talking and realised she was shaking. For the first time, she began to understand the energy that drove Blanchard.

'And you propose ...?'

'Buy the supplier as well. It's owned by a private equity firm who are sitting on a lot of losses. They'd bite your hand off. Then merge the two companies and make the business properly viable.'

Blanchard knitted his fingers together and stared at her, as if she were a work of art he was slowly coming to appreciate. His cigar burned untouched in the ashtray.

'Ellie, this is good. Very good indeed. Our client will be delighted when I tell him.'